Classroom Climate Challenge
A guide for students, teachers, and parents to take climate action
County Community Charter School Student
Youth climate activism is on the rise globally and locally. Some are even calling today’s young people the Greta generation. More and more parents, teachers, and kids are asking what we can do to confront this crisis and how we can maintain hope and resilience for the work ahead.
So C3 created the Classroom Challenge and Guidebook in order to:
Help students know that their actions make a difference in addressing climate change.
Empower teachers with ready-made climate action lesson plans and resources.
Bridge state-required curriculum with real-world local experience and action.
Highlight student success stories and projects to the greater community.
Provide activities for this year’s 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.
What is the the Classroom Challenge?
It’s a community-building program for classrooms and schools designed to spur both individual and collective student actions. These actions promote awareness, resiliency, and results. Whether you decide to do one project for Earth Day or take the full Classroom Challenge, this guide provides educational resources, projects, climate action “pro-tips”, and a platform to quantify student actions. Students and teachers of all levels can:
Choose from 18 actions ranging from completing a climate word search to conducting a school-wide energy audit.
Have access to 50 resources. However, we do recommend providing a foundation for action by completing Climate Action 101 and Learning About Solutions.
Track points on cvillechallenge.org to develop an energy profile, revealing how individual actions can lower your carbon footprint.
County Community Charter School Teacher and Student
How does it work?
We know classroom teachers are busy, so you can decide! The resources we provide range from 3-minute videos to 2-day projects. Look at the amount of time you have and plan on completing the actions that appeal to you. We’re happy to help you develop your plan.
Here are some examples:
· Take 1 action in a 30 minutes - 2 hour time frame
· Take 4-6 weeks and do one action a week taking between 30 min – 2 hours each
· Have a 1-2-week Earth Week focus and have teams of students take on actions as projects
Let’s Collaborate!
Before downloading our Classroom Challenge Guidebook, please fill out the following form so that C3 can collaborative with you, share further resources, and be able to tell the story of the positive difference your students are making to the wider audience of our community!
Parents, Teachers, Students, and Administrators,
We are so excited to partner with the students of Charlottesville and Albemarle County to bring climate action and conversations into the classroom!
The Community Climate Collaborative is a local nonprofit with a mission of inspiring and supporting climate action among households, businesses, schools, and faith communities. We believe in the collective power of individuals acting together to create positive change in our environment, beginning in our own backyard.
That’s why we created the Classroom Climate Challenge guidebook. We want climate action in the classroom to be engaging, student-led, hands-on, and fun. And we want to provide you with resources that support those goals! This Challenge has the ability to facilitate tangible action, taken by the students, to combat climate change. They can learn strategies to implement at school and at home. When students feel empowered, they can build resilience against the reality of climate change.
This Guide outlines 18 teaching concepts paired with actions that provide direct impact to the classroom carbon footprint and include 50 resources. Best of all, these activities are flexible enough to fit into your unique classroom needs. Consider this a one-stop shop for classroom climate action.
We can’t wait to see how you take on the Challenge!
In Community,
Andrea Bostrom, C3’s Residential Program Manager